The Use of the Second Life Virtual Environment and Other Social Media for Teamwork - Essay Example

 A reflective commentary on the use of the Second Life virtual environment and other social media for teamwork. 1. Introduction The continuous development of technology worldwide has led businesses to invest significant amount of money in order to keep their IT at a high standard. Moreover, it seems that technology has become a necessary tool for developing a wide range of organizational activities, particularly in regard to the communication of each business with its customers. Current paper focuses on the use of a specific form of technology, the virtual environment platforms, in the development of key organizational tasks, such as the team meetings and activities. Emphasis is given on the Second Life as one of the most popular virtual environment platforms internationally. The potentials of the Second Life as a tool for the development of team meetings and activities are examined and analyzed in this paper. A comparison is also made with other forms of social media used by organizations in various industries (see Image 1 and Image 2, Appendix). It is concluded that social media, including the Second Life, can be effectively used for the development of team working and collaboration; however, under certain terms, the disadvantages of this form of technology can lead to the limitation of its effectiveness particularly if the environment of the business cannot support the use of this technology; this is an implication not necessarily related to financial issues, since the cost of this form of technology can be characterized as rather low, as explained below. The risks and challenges of social media as tools for organizing team meetings and activities are mostly related to the failures in the management of the relevant IT systems, i.e. this is an issue of faults in the organizational structure and control. 2. Second Life virtual environment for team meetings and activities 2.1 Second Life virtual environment – overview The use of IT systems for organizing business activities has been a common practice in markets worldwide. In order to understand the role of Second Life virtual environment for specific business tasks, including the development of team meetings and activities, it would be necessary to describe the context of such environment. In accordance with Lehmann-Grube (2010) the virtual environment (known also as virtual world) is ‘a synchronous, persistent network of people, represented as avatars, facilitated by net-worked computers’ (Lehmann-Grube 2010, p.123). The Second Life is a virtual world incorporating most of the facilities available in real world, such as ‘businesses, recreation, buildings and services’ (Kane 2012, p.72). The Second Life virtual environment has become particularly popular among businesses, especially regarding its potentials to offer a cost – effective and well organized platform for training and team working (Kane 2012). It seems that the Second Life platform has a key advantage towards other social media of similar forms: the specific platform offers to its users a wide range of features and applications, so that they can have the feel of real-time communication, meaning that they have the sense of acting within real life conditions (Heiphetz et al. 2009). This aspect of the Second Life platform has been much appreciated by managers in Cisco; the firm was among the first ones that incorporated the Second Life as a platform for team meetings (Heiphetz et al. 2009). In fact, the TechChat project that the firm developed is based on the use of the Second Life platform for the organizing and development of team meetings; this project has been the first of this type developed through the particular platform (Heiphetz et al. 2009). 2.2 Second Life virtual environment as a tool supporting team meetings and activities Virtual environments can be particularly helpful in team meetings and activities. These environments can offer two significant advantages: team meetings and activities can be arranged and developed ‘without travel’ (Lehmann-Grube 2010, p.123). At the next level, by using a virtual environment in order to organize team meetings and activities, the chances for the success of these tasks is increased since the communication among the member of the staff is direct and the chances for false interpretation of the instructions given are reduced (Lehmann-Grube 2010). One of the key advantages of the Second Life seems to be the variety of its features. Indeed, the platform’s applications and potentials are many, being able to respond to the communication needs of Internet users worldwide. In the context of the organizational environment, the Second Life platform can be effectively used for developing team meetings and activities. In the study of Rufer-Bach (2009) reference is made to the case of Aviva USA; the firm’s strategic managers decided to use the Second Life virtual environment in order to attract to the company high skilled sales agents (Rufer-Bach 2009, p.79). At the same time, the specific platform was considered as an effective tool for training the firm’s employees. IBM supported the firm’s effort for the development of its presence in social network sites. In terms of the resources required the specific project has been characterized as quite successful; indeed, the firm’s in-house personnel participated actively in the entire project’s phases (Rufer-Bach 2009, p.79). As of its costs, the project has been characterized as of a low risk; the amount invested has been rather low – compared to other projects of similar characteristics at such level that no external financing was required. The project has been funded exclusively from the firm’s existing ‘IT & R&D budget’ (Rufer-Bach 2009, p.79). In other words, both technically and financially the introduction of the Second Life as a business tool should be characterized as feasible, if regarded as a business project. However, like all business plans, this project is expected to have certain risks, being related especially with the time required for the firm’s employees to accept the Second Life as an element of the business. Another indicative example of the effectiveness of the Second Life platform in regard to the management of group activities is the following one: the Alliance library system, a library based in Illinois, has increased its customer based and its performance using the features of the Second Life platform (Kane 2012). The firm’s director of innovation, Lori, decided to use the specific platform for supporting the library’s activities and improve the firm’s online presence (Kane 2012). Under the instructions of Lori, the firm developed a virtual branch, renting a building in the Second Life platform in the context of a project entitled as ‘Info Island Archipelago’ (Kane 2012). The Alliance Virtual Library is now one of the most popular destinations in the Second Life Platform incorporating about 50 info islands (Kane 2012). Through the above case it was made clear that the virtual environment platforms like the Second Life can be used by modern organizations for the increase of their customer base, the improvement of communication with their customers, the provision of services on a 24-hour basis and the promotion of collaboration, as achieved through the exchange of views between people who meet for the first time through the platform of a virtual environment. The advantages of the Second Life as a tool for the development of team meetings and activities are proved through the following example: team meetings can be also developed using alternative applications, for instance, the video conferencing. However, the features available to participants through other applications are limited, if compared to the features of the Second Life. In video conferencing ‘the ability to show group membership and coordinate activities between participants is quite limited’ (Molka-Danielsen et al. 2009, p.120). On the contrary, in the Second Life environment the participants can choose for themselves the environment they want; through the Second Life platform the participants can develop for themselves an environment similar to that of the real life (Molka-Danielsen et al. 2009, p.120). Another important advantage of the Second Life as a tool for team working is the following one: when participating in a team meeting through this platform, the participants ‘can easily group themselves as members of the team’ (Molka-Danielsen et al. 2009, p.120). In this way, the chances for the success of team working are increased. At the next level, the features of the Second Life, as available to the participants, are really impressive. When participating in a team meeting through the platform of the Second Life the participants can use either the simple voice chat (as in video-conferencing) or the group voice chat (a feature of the Second Life platform) (Molka-Danielsen et al. 2009, p.120). The instant text messaging is another facility available to the participants of team meetings through the Second Life platform (Molka-Danielsen et al. 2009, p.120). These tools and features increase the effectiveness of the Second Life in regard to team meetings and other team activities. The significant reduction of cost, compared to the use of common practices for developing team meetings and activities, is another advantage of the Second Life platform as a tool for promoting team working (Molka – Danielsen et al 2009). Another aspect of the value of the Second Life as a tool for organizing team meetings and activities is described in the study of Malloch (2010). In accordance with the above researcher the virtual environment of the Second Life platform offers to the participants of team meetings ‘the sense of cohesion’ (Malloch 2010, p.434). In this way, participants can coordinate more effectively using data and figures necessary for their conversation. Moreover, simulations are available to the participants of the meetings; this means that participants are able to exchange information and display, through simulations, the potential differentiation of figures and data in the future, under the influence of various events and conditions (Malloch 2010, p.434). 3. Critical evaluation and comparison of other social media for team meetings and teamwork activities. Due to their value in the development of communication among people of different social and educational background, social media have become a common trend in countries internationally. The virtual communication network, a key feature of platforms such as the Second Life, has significantly helped towards the improvement of team meetings; in these networks the technology ‘acts as a hum member’ (Schermerhorn 2011, p.185), in the sense that the networks of this type cannot effectively operate without advanced technology features through which the development of team meetings in almost real-life conditions becomes feasible. Apart from Second Life, the aspects of which were described above, other social media are quite popular among Internet users around the world; the SharePoint of Microsoft is a well-known platform for communication (Academic Publishing 2008, p.326). The specific platform has been appropriately customized in order to be able to respond to the needs of multinational enterprises, meaning that it is a platform particularly valuable for team working and other similar activities. However, the structure of the platform is rather complex, at least as noted by an interview that has asked to criticize the particular program (Academic Publishing 2008, p.326). More specifically, the fact that the user (organization) can develop thousands of group rooms using the SharePoint makes the access to the appropriate part of the platform problematic (Academic Publishing 2008, p.326). The use of certain features of SharePoint platform such as the application ‘My Site’ can help an organization to develop an effective communication network improving collaboration among its members (Academic Publishing 2008, p.326). Compared to Second Life, SharePoint can be characterized as a less complex visual environment; however, in terms of its potentials and its features, SharePoint is clearly less powerful and effective than the Second Life. Other virtual environments of similar characteristics are the following ones: the WorldsAway, Dreamscape and Habitat; all of these virtual world platforms have been of limited functionality compared to the Second Life, referring to the size of the platforms but also to their features. The use of the Second Life platform, as of other social media, is related to a series of issues, meaning that when using the particular media there are certain facts that need to be taken into consideration. The social media, including the Second Life platform, cannot fully protect their user from the potential violation of his/ her personal data. Even if there are applications ensuring the protection of the personal life of users, still chances exist for the users of these platforms to face threats of various forms an issue related to all Internet applications (Guillot 2002). In the context of team meetings, the use of social media can set critical organizational information in risk, an issue that needs to be taken into consideration by managers organizing such activities (Boller 2005). 4. Difficulties that may arise when managing remote or virtual teams. The value of the team within modern organizations is significant; in fact, the team has been characterized as ‘the unit controlling organizational performance and change’ (Barlow et al. 2011, p.29). For this reason, organizing effective team meetings is of critical importance for businesses worldwide. Under the influence of the continuous development of technology, team working has been related to IT systems (Dunin-Keplicz et al. 2011). More specifically, since the simultaneous use of many computers and the simultaneous discussion of all members of the team are necessary requirements of team meetings, appropriate plans of action had to be developed (Dunin-Keplicz et al. 2011). At the next level, the communication among employees of an organization may face problems, for instance due to lack of trust or the lack of experience for understanding all aspects of a particular organizational problem (Rahim 2011). In this way, the resolution of conflicts becomes a critical issue for leaders when having to decide on the potential use of social media for training and communication across their organization (Buhlmann 2006). Also, it is possible that not all employees support the use of such technology not only because of their opposition to such applications, but mostly because their lack of knowledge (Jones et al. 2005); in this case, managers need to ensure that before introducing social media within the organization, employees are given the necessary training and instructions (Hoefling 2003); the allocation of time required ‘for leading the virtual team meetings and for setting priorities’ (Lepsinger et al. 2010, p.83) have to be also addressed by leaders organizing virtual team meetings. In any case, it would be necessary for all members of the team to be given the chance to participate equally in team meetings and other activities organized through social media (Camarinha – Matos et al. 2010). 5. Conclusion In accordance with the issues discussed above, the use of the Second Life, as also in other social media, for the development of team meetings and activities increases the chances for the success of these initiatives. At a first level, through the virtual environment the costs of a team meeting are practically eliminated. Moreover, through these platforms, the communication and collaboration of the members of the group become more effective (Brown et al. 2007). However, the success of these platforms, such as the Second Life, is depended on the ability of leaders to appropriate organize and monitor the relevant projects (Dyer et al. 2010). In any case, the benefits related to these platforms, referring especially to the Second Life virtual environment, are such that their expansion in organizations worldwide is considered as justified under the terms that their risks and challenges, as explained above, are appropriately addressed. References Academic Publishing (2008). 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Available at: http://secondlife.com/whatis/?lang=en-US#Start_Exploring [Accessed 9 November 2011] Appendix Image 1 – Social media landscape (source: http://esteps.gr/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/social-media-marketing.jpg) Image 2 – Social media – overview, role (source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/garyhayes/2973684461/sizes/m/in/photostream/) Read More